| Your comments in today's Tri-City Daily relating to transportation in Northeast Sector and Riverview. |
| The Evidence Act in this province essentially calls for evidence to be a fair depiction of fact. The Tri-City Daily article relating to (particularly) Port Moody Mayor Joe Trasolini's comments would come nowhere near meeting any test for evidence or accuracy. |
| It is in my opinion propaganda and spin which naturally requires a response. |
| All original discussions relating to transportation development for the benefit of the northeast sector were always predicated on the understanding that the mode would be Skytrain down Lougheed Highway. |
| Mr. Trasolini indicates in the Tri-City/BC Liberal News that he has lobbied for the alignment down Lougheed for years. This is false. The first evidence we have of Mr. Trasolini's and his city council's desires was a referendum on the 2005 municipal ballot wherein voters were asked to vote for/against Skytrain through Port Moody. The citizens of that city voted against it. The economic development czar for this city of close to 25,000 interviewed ROBBINS and later published a poll by ROBBINS which confirmed that most Tri-City citizens, including those in Port Moody, preferred Skytrain down Lougheed Highway. There is no evidence to suggest any linkage over this period of some 3-4 years between Joe Trasolini, the Lougheed option, with Riverview as a codicil to the transportation development. |
| Here is the truth of the matter. (Nevermind Translink or the rest of the nonsense politicos and their friends in the news use (including bomb scares, one day ferry strikes etc) to obfuscate from sensible reality). |
| Gordon Campbell doesn't like the Tri-City, because we aren't crazy about him. As well, Skytrain down Lougheed Highway would be an extension of former BC NDP Glen Clarke's Skytrain work to Lougheed Mall and to Surrey. |
| Campbell thinks he's Julius Caesar and still conducts his politics that way (well why not, his main advisor chain smokes). (There is always something to learn from ye olden times). |
| Now Joe Trasolini after returning from holiday wants to sound bite his way back into everyone's life. He sees himself as quite clever suggesting that Riverview and Lougheed Skytrain has always been something he supported. Why would Coquitlam residents care about what the Mayor of Port Moody thinks? |
| There is a plethora of evidence to support the fact that Joe Trasolini pushed for LRT down St. John's at or about the same time he bought a commercial building on St. John's (we are told for market price, bearing in mind one person owns most of the property on St. John's-are you thinking what I am?). There has been very little public discussion of this option, simply because it really is not viable, and the proponents who hoped (like Trasolini) to benefit from such a proposal knew that support would be wanting so it was generally kept to political insiders and rarely brought up in the news for a period of nearly one year. Mr. Trasolini may be a Director- but Translink has sanctioned him for his imprudent land purchase, and he currently has no political capital to affect in local decisions pertaining particularly to transportion in the northeast sector. Not mentioning this in a article that quotes Mr. Trasolini and refers to him as a director is simply dishonest and manipulative journalism in our opinion. |
| Coquitlam city council has already approved significant development in the area near to Lougheed, and also at Burke Mountain. This, along with the complete lack of decent public transit makes the case for Skytrain down Lougheed, or in the alternative, a moratorium on further development in the region, contrary to the GVRD liveable strategy, which is obviously at the root of this ridiculous spin. |
| People in Coquitlam can learn a few things from this type of political nonsense. Be very wary what you read in local newspapers. Only two individuals own nearly all the newspapers in the province. One of them, David Black, who owns the Tri-City News and Daily is a close friend of Gordon Campbell and is a BC Liberal supporter. Port Moody Mayor Joe Trasolini is a BC Liberal/federal Liberal. |
| In this article it appears both cooperate with one another to produce (mis)information designed we believe to mislead the public relating to facts surrounding transportation issues in the northeast sector, and its alleged link to the recent controversial discussion regarding land development at Riverview. |
| It is a real disservice to the public. |
